Hell Gate
by ewarrior11
Summary: The lycans have made a dangerous discovery, one that could potentially destroy the entire vampire species. Selene is sent to discover a way to stop the lycan plan, and the journey will take her to distant worlds. Takes place shortly after Underworld Evolution and in early to mid Season 3 of SG:A.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: I've never done a crossover before and I honestly don't know what possessed me to do this one. I have no idea how this is going to turn out, or if it will even be any good. I figure on it having around six to eight chapters before it's done and I will try to get at least one per week posted._

**Chapter 1**

"So it's true?" Arius asked.

"It's unbelievable, is it not?" David said. "The US government has been running this program for nearly ten years. Their security is so good not even we found about it until now."

"And it was pure good luck, at that," Arius said. "I'm surprised you were able to get the lycan to talk."

"I have my little ways," David said. "Still, what the lycan told us is disturbing. There's no telling what they might do with their newfound knowledge if we don't stop them."

Arius nodded. "We need to get someone inside."

David grimaced. "I really don't know how we might do that."

Arius shrugged. "Though the program is mostly US government funded, it is a multi-national expedition. We have enough influence in the European Union to get someone on the expedition."

"The problem," David replied, "is that we need to send one of our own if this mission is to have a chance of success. Unfortunately, whoever we send will be under a military command structure. Getting orders to report for work during the middle of the day would, of course, pose a problem for our kind."

"I think I might know someone who could handle it," Arius said.

David looked at Arius with disapproval. "Forget it. She's been through enough already. She won't agree to it anyway."

"Can you think of anyone else who might be suited to it?" Arius asked.

David grimaced. "No."

"We should at least try," Arius pressed. "I know she's your friend and you care about her. I won't ask you to try to talk her into it, but ask yourself this: what are the consequences of the lycans succeeding?"

"That would be…bad," David replied.

"Everything she's fought for, everything we've all fought for will be for nothing," Arius said.

David sighed. He didn't want to do it, but Arius was right. "I'll call her."

**XXXXXXXXXX**

"Thank you for coming," David said.

Selene stomped down the hallway, her boots thudding against the concrete floor in an angry cadence. She didn't even look back at David. "I trust there's a good reason you called me off my search?"

David sighed. "I know how important finding Michael Corvin is to you—"

She stopped short and speared him with a deadly glance. "No, David. You most assuredly DO NOT know how important that is to me!"

David put his hands up in a placating gesture. "I'm sorry."

Selene resumed her angry walk towards the meeting hall. She reached the two towering wooden doors, each engraved with beautiful artwork depicting important events in vampire history. She ignored the artistry and shoved the doors open. "Arius," she said without preamble. "Why am I here?"

"We need your help, Selene," Arius said.

"Solve your own problems, Arius," she snapped.

David sighed. "The lycans have found something extremely dangerous. It could mean the end of our species."

Selene sighed. "That's a bit melodramatic, don't you think?"

"This is going to be a bit hard to believe. The lycans have become aware of an alien lifeform with some vampiric qualities," David said.

"Alien?" Selene asked. "As in, not from this world?"

David nodded. He opened a manila folder and handed her a few still photos. Selene took them, examining the first one. The photograph depicted a man, or at least she assumed it was a male from its proportions. While it looked more or less human in a general sense, even a cursory glance would inform an observer it was anything but human.

The being had light green, leathery skin and predatory eyes that reminded her vaguely of a fully transformed lycan's eyes. It had long, silken white hair and razor sharp teeth.

"This," David said, "is the alien lifeform in question.'"

"And it's really not from Earth?"

"Correct. We're not exactly sure where they're originally from," David said. "And it's not the only alien that the top secret project the mortals are running have encountered, although it's the one we're most concerned with."

Selene shuffled the still photo to the bottom of the stack. The next photo showed a close up of one of the aliens' right hands. Her eyes widened at the slit-like structure. "That's how they feed," David said. "Best we can tell, it operates not unlike a parasitic insect. It attaches to the prey and injects a chemical that prepares the prey to be fed upon. Among other things, it temporarily enhances the prey's strength and resilience, as the feeding itself is apparently highly traumatic. The enhancement effects of the chemical ensures the prey lives long enough to be fully fed on."

"Does it drink the prey's blood?" Selene asked.

"No. We're not too clear on the exact chemical mechanism. It might be simpler if I just showed you," David said, motioning towards a wall mounted flat screen at the far end of the conference room.

David inserted a DVD and started the playback.

The film was amazingly clear for what appeared to be the film from a soldier's personal mission cam. She knew some military units were using that technology these days, but she wasn't aware it had gotten so good.

The camera showed what was clearly one of the aliens, facing a bound human who was wearing military battledress. The alien was speaking to the human, but Selene couldn't hear what was being said, as the camera's audio recording equipment just wasn't good enough. The human apparently said something the alien didn't like, and she (this one was clearly female) slammed her open palm against the man's torso. The man screamed like a damned soul, convulsing under the assault like he'd grabbed a live electric wire. The victim's skin wrinkled and his hair turned white. After a scant few seconds, the alien released the man who had appeared to age decades in only seconds. The view of the camera shifted, and a gunshot rang out, killing the now old-looking man.

"My God," Selene said.

"They feed off of lifeforce. No need for blood, and their strength and resilience is greatly enhanced for a short time by the feeding process," David said.

"How is that even possible?" Selene asked.

"We don't know yet," David answered. "The lycans are interested, however, which means we need to know what they know. We believe they've already got at least one agent inside the organization that studies these aliens. Given the inherent difficulty we have in infiltrating lycan packs..."

"You need someone to infiltrate the mortals' as the lycans have," Selene finished. "And since I'm the only vampire that can tolerate sunlight, I'm the logical choice."

"Yes," David said.

"I'm busy," Selene said. "My own daughter is 12 years old and she's never so much as met her father. Find someone else."  
"Selene, you're the best we have," David said. "No one else has even a prayer of doing this and maintaining cover among the humans."

Selene turned to walk away, but David stopped her. "Please. We know that the lycans are trying to capture a live specimen. Given the aliens' vampiric qualities...there is concern they're working on something, a biological weapon most likely. A lycan final solution."

"What makes you think they could actually create something like that?" Selene asked.

"We don't know for certain that they can," David replied. "But it is conceivable. We can't afford to be wrong. Look, I know you're in a bad place right now, but what if the lycans succeed? Your daughter..."

Selene closed her eyes and reigned in her temper. David was hitting her where she was weak, damn him, but he wasn't wrong either. She sighed, making her decision. "You can't infiltrate me through normal mortal channels. Lycan agents will likely know I'm coming before I even get there. I will go in completely covert."

"We can't do it that way," David said.

"Why? I've gotten into more than one military installation in my time," Selene said.

"You can't get to it without going through the humans," David said. "The primary installation where the research is taking place is on another planet."

"What?" Selene asked, incredulous. "Another planet?"

"Yes," David said. "And the humans control access to it." David handed her another manila folder.

"We've built you an identity. You are Doctor Andrea Shackleford, an Oxford University research scientist. The identity's listed expertise matches up with your own, so doing maintaining your cover should not be an issue. We've got all your travel papers and a briefing packet explaining everything you'll need to know already prepared," David said.

"Weapons?" Selene asked.

"Security is too tight," David said. "There's a military presence at the installation, so you should be able appropriate small arms if needed, but we won't be able to smuggle in any silver nitrate rounds. Just gather information. Avoid the hostile lycan agents if possible. If we can gather sufficient information on the aliens' biology, that should give us enough to figure out what the lycans are doing and counter it."

"Here's the tough part," David said. "Contact is only made with Earth once a month, so once you're there, you will have to avoid the lycan agents for that long."

"Alright, fine. I'll do it. Now, how am I getting there?"

David handed her another glossy photograph. "Through this."

Selene examined the clear black and white photograph. It depicted a large ring made of something that looked like stone. There was ancient writing all over the ring, some of it obviously Egyptian, though some of the symbols looked surprisingly similar to the ancient vampire language.

"The humans call it a Stargate," David said. "Better start studying the briefing materials, there's a lot there. I suggest you keep an open mind about it, because it reads like a science fiction novel."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Lieutenant Colonel John Shepard ran for his life. Blue green bolts from Wraith stunners flew past him uncomfortably close and he thanked God the green bastards were terrible shots. His boots pounded on the asphalt of the city street, and the screams of the panicking residents and the occasional explosion from Wraith air strikes completed the symphony of destruction.

His team rounded the corner of a building into cover. "Hold up here!" Shepard shouted. "Covering fire! Hold the Wraith off as long as possible to give the civilians time to get to the gate!"

Shepard leaned out from his corner. He snapped the little P90 up to his shoulder and started firing in short, vicious bursts. Each burst was well aimed, hitting each Wraith soldier dead center of mass. Such fire wouldn't kill most of them, but it would take them out of the fight, or at least slow them down, and that was good enough.

Shepard's gun ran dry and he ducked back. "Loading!" he shouted. Ronon took his place, the whining boom of his pistol drowning out most other noise.

"Behind us!" Rodney shouted. Rodney and Teyla turned and started pouring fire into the Wraith that had flanked them.

Shepard got his P90 reloaded and hit his radio. "Atlantis, this is turning to shit on a stick. We've been flanked, we've got to pull back now!"

"The door's open, Colonel," Dr Weir replied over the radio.

"Fall back!" Shepard ordered. The entire team took the flanking Wraith under fire as they moved, driving them off.

Shepard's team made it to the gate with a horde of Wraith right on their tail. Major Lorne's team was holding the gate. At the sight of the pursuing Wraith, Lorne's team lit into them with everything they had.

"Go!" Lorne called to Shepard. "We're right behind you!"

Shepard didn't break stride as he charged through the gate. The odd sensation of stretching coldness enveloped him, and then he was back in Atlantis's gate room.

Shepard stood aside from the gate, panting. The rest of his team and Lorne's team came just behind him and, at last, the gate closed.

The gate room was full of civilians, most of them panicked. He ascended the staircase up to Stargate Control. He just wanted to be away from it all.

"Colonel Shepard," Dr. Weir said, coming out of her office. "What happened?"

Shepard grimaced. "What do you think happened?" he spat. "The Wraith weren't supposed to know about M4V-731 but, as per fucking usual, they found it somehow."

"That's not your fault, John," Weir said.

"There was a thriving industrial civilization there," Shepard said. "Hundreds of millions of people, the largest human population we'd found yet off of Earth. Now it's gone."

"Not completely," Weir said, glancing towards the refugees in the gate room.

"A few dozen out of hundreds of millions," Shepard said.

"You can't save them all, John," Weir said.

"Yeah," Shepard said, not sounding convinced.

"Take a few minutes," Weir said. "When you're ready, come to my office, I need to go over some things with you."

"Alright," he said, scrubbing his face. He glanced back at the refugees. "Fucking Wraith," he muttered.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

One hour, a shower, and a change of clothes later, Shepard found himself back in Weir's office. He still wasn't in a happy mood, though.

"We've got a new researcher coming in with the resupply shipment from Earth tomorrow," Weir said. "Dr. Andrea Shackleford, research biologist. She's going to be studying the Wraith."

"The Wraith don't need studying," Shepard said. "Unless it's being done through the scope of a rifle."

Weir sighed. She got up and walked around behind Shepard and put her hands on his shoulders, trying to massage some of the tension out. Shepard certainly didn't mind the attention, and she did have a way of calming him. He wasn't really sure how to describe the relationship between him and his boss, but it was definitely not leader to subordinate anymore.

"John, you've got to stop blaming yourself for everything the Wraith do," she said.

"I know, Elizabeth," Shepard said. "It's just...when I was in Afghanistan, people died in combat. It was part of it, but we all signed on and knew what we were getting into. The Wraith just casually murder millions of civilians who didn't choose to fight in a war, and the way they do it..."

"I know," Weir said. "We're going to stop them, John."

"I hope so," he whispered.

"Look at me," she said. John turned and looked into her beautiful eyes. "We're going to stop them," she said, her eyes hardening with conviction.

Shepard smiled. "Thanks."

"Now," Weir said, returning to her chair, "Dr. Shackleford. She's mostly going to be working down in the labs with Rodney and Radek."

"Lucky her," Shepard said.

Weir grinned. "However, she has also expressed a wish to accompany your team if an opportunity to study the Wraith in their native environment presents itself."

Shepard lifted an eyebrow. "She's been briefed, I assume?"

"Yes, she's seen the videos of the Wraith feeding, and she still wants to go."

"Well, gotta give her credit for having spine," Shepard said. "Let me talk to her when she gets here. If I think she can hack it, we'll take her along if an opportunity presents itself."

"Good. That's really all I had," Weir said.

"Well, in that case, I'm going to go get some sleep," Shepard said.

"In that case, goodnight John," Weir said.

"Goodnight, Elizabeth."

Shepard left her office and started mentally preparing himself to sleep. With any luck, he figured he might even be able to sleep through the nightmares this time.


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: More set up in this chapter, no action yet. But soon :D_

**Chapter 3**

"Chevron six encoded," Sergeant Harriman announced over the loudspeaker.

Selene watched as the Stargate rotated slowly towards the final chevron. She suppressed a grimace at the absence of her usual weapons. While it was an opportunity of a lifetime, despite the circumstances, she did not like the idea of going into an unknown situation without her own weapons. The US Air Force had issued her an M9 pistol, but the weapon was unfamiliar. And besides, she didn't have any 9mm silver nitrate rounds for it. Without her speciality ammunition, she might as well be unarmed if it should come to a direct confrontation with the lycan agents.

_Hopefully it won't come to that,_ she thought. _Then again it would be just my luck for the damned lycan to be on duty right when I walk through this thing._

"Chevron seven encoded," Harriman announced.

She was the only person in the shipment to Atlantis. Atlantis. Wasn't that a fine thing to find out was actually real? Given the revelations about the Ancients and their place in human history, she wondered how many of the world's ancient legends had some kind of basis in fact.

"Chevron eight, locked," Harriman announced.

A loud electrical hum issued from the gate as the superconductors released their stored energy. What looked like a fountain of water issued forth from the center of the gate, quickly stabilizing into the coruscating colors of an active wormhole.

"Remarkable," Selene said.

"Dr. Shackleford, you are clear to proceed," General Landry said over the intercom. She turned and nodded to Landry and proceeded up the ramp.

She stepped through, closing her eyes on instinct. For all that the event horizon of the wormhole looked like a puddle of water, there was no sensation of dampness or wetness when she stepped through. Her skin went cold, and an odd stretching sensation enveloped her. It seemed to last forever, but at the same time it was over almost before she could register it.

She emerged from the wormhole in Atlantis's gateroom. The area was bustling with activity as supply crates followed her through the gate. A man with dark hair in Air Force BDUs approached her, and held out his hand. "Dr. Shackleford, I presume?"

She took his hand. "Yes."

"Major Evan Lorne, United States Air Force," he greeted. "Dr. Weir will want to see you as soon as you get settled in." He handed her a tablet. "This is yours to keep while you're here. I took the liberty of bringing up your housing arrangements, I figure you'd probably like to get all your stuff in your bunk right away."

"Thank you, Major," she said.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Lorne said.

Selene looked around, surreptitiously. The briefing packet said that the Atlantis base was enormous, so it was unlikely any lycan agents were in the room with her, but she didn't want to take any chances.

Everyone around her seemed regular human, though. Lycans were crafty, it wasn't out of the question that he was watching her even now, but somehow she didn't think so.

She shook herself from her thoughts. _Can't stand here forever. Work to do._

She found her bunk quickly enough. It was in one of the lower levels, not far from Dr. McKay's main research labs. The room was fairly spacious all things considered. She dropped her stuff off and left immediately to return to the gateroom.

Upon returning to the gateroom, she made for Dr. Weir's office, but the base commander was still involved in something that looked important. Rather than disturb the woman, Selene went to the balcony and stepped aside.

Atlantis was floating serenely in the middle of the ocean. There was a gentle breeze, and it carried a strong ocean smell to it. But the smell wasn't quite right. Familiar, but different. It was a clear day without a cloud in the blue sky, a sky that was not quite the right shade of blue.

That's when it hit her. _My God, I'm actually standing on another planet. In another galaxy._

"It's a nice view."

Startled, Selene turned to see Dr. Weir approaching her. _Pay attention,_ she chided herself. _You just got surprised by an ordinary human._

"Very nice. Very alien," Selene said. "It's a pleasure to meet you Dr. Weir."

"I'm glad you're here Dr. Shackleford," Weir replied. "So what do you think of our little operation so far?"

"Haven't been here long enough to say for certain, but it's remarkable, that's for sure," Selene said.

"Remarkable we do before breakfast. Unbelievable comes after that most days," Weir said. "Come step into my office for a few minutes."

**XXXXXXXXXX**

John Shepard stood as Weir returned to her office with Dr. Shackleford. Shepard held out his hand. "Lieutenant Colonel John Shepard. A pleasure."

"Likewise, Colonel," Shackleford replied, shaking his hand. _Nice strong grip she has,_ Shepard mused. _Looks pretty fit to. She'll probably be able to keep up with us in the field, thank God._

Everyone seated themselves. "Colonel," Weir began, "Dr. Shackleford is here to study how the Wraith feed. She and I were both hoping you'd be able to arrange for her to go into the field with you."

"Doctor, I assume you've seen the videos?" Shepard asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"Well, I have to say, if you're still willing to study the Wraith up close after seeing that, then you're made of pretty stern stuff," Shepard said.

"Someone has to do it," Shackleford said. "I am quite ready to begin."

Shepard nodded. She wasn't the soft around the edges academic he had been afraid he'd be stuck with. "I've got a good feeling about this, Doctor. I think you're going to be an excellent addition to the team. We were planning an expedition to M6V-231 three days from now. I know that's hitting the ground running pretty fast, but do you think you'll be ready by then?"

"Yes," she said.

"Great," Shepard replied.

"With that taken care of, if you don't mind Dr. Shackleford, there a few other items I need to discuss with Colonel Shepard. Why don't you go and make yourself at home?"

"Of course," Shackleford said. "Good day to both of you."

Once Shackleford had left, Weir said, "So, what do you think?"

"She's really intensely focused," Shepard said. "Frighteningly so. Her bearing is almost military, not what I would've expected from an academic. Somehow, I don't expect that she will have trouble in the field."

"Rodney doesn't have trouble in the field," Weir pointed out. "Can't judge a book by its cover."

"Yeah, Rodney had to kind of grow into his role," Shepard grimaced. "But credit where it's due, he eventually did."

"Any word on the location of Lieutenant Abramson?" Weir asked.

"No," Shepard sighed. "We have no idea where he is. I ordered him not to go wandering around the unexplored parts of the city, but I'm betting he did anyway. I've got search teams still looking."

Weir nodded. "Am I the only one getting a bad feeling about Abramson?"

"No," Shepard muttered. "It's been one of those kinds of weeks."

**XXXXXXXXXX**

"-one of those kinds of weeks," Selene heard Shepard say. Her superhuman hearing had stood her in good stead once again.

_Could Shepard's missing man be the lycan agent? If so, why is he hiding? Or did Abramson discover the lycan agent? Maybe the lycan killed him to protect his cover._

She wasn't sure, but she knew she had to find out. While she could walk during the daylight, she still preferred to hunt at night. _I will get settled in as Weir suggested. Once night falls, then the real work begins._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Atlantis base was not entirely quiet, even at night. Though she could move about in the unrestricted areas easily enough and even some of the restricted ones, Selene needed to not draw any attention to herself.

Covert it would be. She tucked her issued M9 into her holster and walked over to the window. There were the usual alarm systems, all of them military grade, all of them easily disabled. She made short work of the alarms and threw open her window. She attached an anchor for her rappelling rope and secured it. The climbing gear had been easy enough to swipe from the base's equipment stores and were a low enough priority item that no one was likely to notice any of it missing.

She attached the rope and tossed the entire bundle out the window. She'd judged the distance well when taking the rope; it reached all the way to the bottom exterior level. The rope wasn't for climbing down, however, it was for climbing back up. Ignoring the rope, she dropped easily out the window and descended lazily the entire distance to the surface exterior level.

Landing on her feet like a cat, she took a quick look around. No one close by. A short distance away she saw an access hatch. This one didn't have any alarms on it, at least not of human make. It lead into the unexplored parts of the city.

She opened the hatch and dropped into a hallway. It was dark, but her natural night vision showed her the hallway as plain as if it were day time.

She stopped and listened intently. Something wasn't right.

She heard nothing.

She continued down the corridor. Most of the Ancient-built electronics that pervaded the base weren't running in this area, giving the place the feeling of a tomb. Despite all of Hollywood's portrayals of her kind sleeping in coffins, the truth was that Selene, and any other vampire for that matter, was as uncomfortable with their mortality as anyone else.

Shaking off the macabre thoughts, she rounded a turn in the hallway. There was another door, inactive, to her right.

It was cracked open slightly.

She stopped mid stride, not making a single sound, and listened.

A soft footstep fell.

She retreated back around the corner, and drew on her vampiric strength, taut and ready to strike or run as needed. She drew the M9 and took the safety off, knowing that if the lycan agent was in that formerly sealed room, the weapon would be nearly useless.

"Who is that?" a voice called out.

Selene tensed. _I've been very quiet, only a lycan would be able to sense my proximity. But why is he giving away his advantage of surprise?_

"Where are you?" the voice called again, somewhat slurred. "What's happening to me?"

She heard soft footsteps. Judging just right, she reached around the corner and seized a man by his neck, hauling him roughly around the corner and slamming him into the wall.

"Argh!" the man called out. He struggled, but his strength was no match for hers.

Selene recognized the man's face. She'd looked up information on him after Shepard had mentioned he was missing. "Are you Lieutenant Abramson?" she asked.

"I...I...yes," Abramson stammered. "Why is it so hot in here? Where am I? What's wrong with me?"

And then she saw it. Her vampire senses told the story clear as day.

He was turning.

"Damn," Selene muttered, releasing him. He was barely able to keep his feet, but just managed it.

She looked more closely at him and became confused. There was something not right about him. She'd seen hundreds of lycan transformations, and this had the hallmarks of it. But there was something else in there too.

She needed to study him, but she couldn't very well walk him back to Weir's office without revealing that she'd been snooping around the restricted areas. She had to maintain her cover.

"Damn," she said again. It was a tough choice. She could either arrange for one of Shepard's search parties to find him or she could lock him up somewhere in the restricted areas and study him herself. Making sure Shepard found him would get him into better lab facilities, but he'd be under close scrutiny; performing any tests would be difficult. Keeping him in the restricted areas would allow easier access but her equipment would be limited.

And once she was done with him, she couldn't have him blowing her cover. She'd have to kill him.

_I might have to anyway,_ she thought. _He's pretty delirious, but I don't for certain if he'd remember me or not._

"Come on, this way," she said, leading him deeper into the restricted areas.

Before she made it 50 yards down the corridor, her instincts screamed a warning at her. She dove to the floor without thinking.

A flash of brown and green screamed through the space she'd just been standing in. Whatever it was grabbed Abramson in passing. He screamed for his life as the beast snatched him. She heard a loud, sickening crack from the next hallway, and Abramson's screams stopped.

Then the alarms sounded.

"Damnation!" she spat.

Enhanced by her vampire strength, she ran back to the access hatch at many times the speed a normal human could've. Scrambling outside, she looked towards the control tower and saw lights coming on in some of the rooms. People were waking up, and the night shift security teams were undoubtedly already moving.

She grabbed the climbing rope and made an ascent that would've been flat impossible for any regular human. She scrambled through her window, pulled the rope in, and stashed it under her bunk. Hands shaking, she re-enabled her room's alarms. She stripped out of her clothes and put her night gown on, then threw herself into the bunk, covering herself up. She took another moment to muss her hair for effect.

She hadn't been in her bunk five seconds before her room's intercom unit chirped. "Dr. Shackleford, this is Major Lorne. Check in."

She climbed back out of the bunk and activated the intercom unit. "This is Dr. Shackleford. I'm fine, what's going on?"

"We don't know yet. For now, remain in your bunk, keep your door secured, and keep your sidearm handy."

"Understood, Major."

The intercom unit cut off. She sat on her bunk and pondered.

_Something wasn't right down there. Abramson looked like he was turning, but there was something very wrong,_ she thought. _I have a feeling this assignment is about to get very complicated._


End file.
